I have been following the 'Postsecret' blog for a while now and look forward to the weekly postings. This blog started out as a community art project, but has become something much bigger. Basically people send in anonymous post cards and share a secret with the world. You are encouraged to personalise the postcard with an image that represents something about your secret. They vary from the utterly ridiculous to the absolutely heartbreaking. So many of them were about people's deep unhappiness that the project took this to heart and now also supports a suicide prevention phone line. I like it because it speaks volumes about the human condition, the things that concern us and the things we do to each other. It takes you to the extremes of exuberance and the depths of despair. There are also Postsecret books, one of which I recently got from the library. Apparently people often go to bookshops and leave their secrets in the books too. I have snatched a couple of images to show you:
the exuberance
how much we pretend to be something to appease others
how much we hide our unhappiness
Very interesting. There was an exhibit a bit like this in one of the Edinburgh art galleries recently - you could write a message and put it in an envelope on a great big wall of envelopes.
ReplyDeleteIt is a sad fact that we communicate with each other less and less (or at least it can seem that way) despite all the methods at our disposal.
x
Absolutely, sometimes the most poignant secrets are the little insecurities that people admit to. Sometimes you get a sense of relief because you read something that clicks with you and makes you feel more normal, or equally a relief from feeling like you are not as crazy as other people out there.
ReplyDeletethanks for visiting
martine
one of our daughters put me on to these books. I didn't realise there was a website, so I'll take a look because the books are so compelling to read and as you say, of universal appeal because of what they say about the human condition
ReplyDelete